Meeting the cast of Stranger Things and the Importance of Experiential Marketing
By Sophia Fineza
About one year ago, Stranger Things Season 3 hit Netflix and the whole world went absolutely nuts. I had the extreme privilege of going to the Season 3 premiere with a few of my friends. I also got lucky enough to get picked to be in a small group of Stranger Things fans that were surprised by the cast the day before the premiere, as a promo for the third season coming out. Those two days were an absolutely insane experience, and one of the most memorable parts of my life. Let’s recap the whole thing, shall we?
Alright, let’s get started! As a big fan of Stranger Things, I (along with the rest of the world?) was looking forward to Season 3. I was lucky enough to score the free tickets (thanks 1iota!) to the S3 premiere which was held outdoors at Santa Monica High School in their beautiful new amphitheater. Additionally, Netflix closed out the Santa Monica Pier for fans to go ride the rides and have a “4th of July” carnival experience, also all for free - if you could deal with the wait time, of course. A day before the premiere, my friends and I separately signed up to participate in a new “Hollywood Tour” to give our feedback in exchange for money - who doesn’t love having some extra money, right? I didn’t even wonder if these events might have been connected in any way, I literally was like “oh, money? and i just have to go on this tour bus thingy? okay, yeah.” girl’s gotta support her extreme spending habits SOMEHOW. Anyhow, if you watch the video above, you can see that the tour was actually a meet-and-greet with the stars of Stranger Things!!! I’m pretty sure that I actually BLACKED OUT when I was on that bus and meeting the cast, because literally the only memories I have of it are through the pictures on my phone and the video on YouTube. Pretty sure I just went into a state of shock and my body was totally numb. One thing I do remember was telling Noah Schnapp I loved him. Oops.
The next day was the premiere, and it was absolutely INSANE. Everyone was in 80s outfits, which was so freakin’ cool. This was my first actual premiere that I had ever gone to, and although it was slightly overwhelming at times, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Side Note: It was BLAZING hot that day, and we were out in the sun for about 4-5 hours. Some of my friends got sunburned, but the Netflix team kept giving us water, which was an actual godsend. Lesson of the Day: If you ever go to a premiere, and you know it’s gonna be hot af, plan accordingly, which I learned a little late (i wore black, so there’s that). I have never seen so many famous people in one place (i mean, obviously). Some of my favorite people I saw were: Ashley Tisdale, JACK DYLAN F*CKING GRAZER, Israel Broussard (who i literally touched foreheads with - yes i’m still freaking out about it), Cody Simpson, and Jake T. Austin. Kind of definitely had mini panic attacks every time they would talk to us, but it’s all good. We were super cool, super chill about it, you know? I also feel the need to flex a little bit and say that Noah Schnapp, Joe Keery, and David Harbour actually remembered me, Eliot, and Emily from the day before so yeah, I would say that we’re basically best friends now. All jokes aside, it was incredible. We got food and Coke (in a vintage can!), got to meet some incredible people, and watched Season 3, Episode 1. Overall, it was a really REALLY great day, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Except maybe this time choose clothes that I wouldn’t get overheated in.
So, you might be asking yourself, “why would Netflix spend so much freakin money advertising a show they know everyone will already be watching?” My friends, let me introduce you to experiential marketing. (thank you to my dad for that fun little vocab test moment). For anyone who doesn’t know, experiential marketing or engagement marketing is when marketers use interactive experiences in order to pull more people into their product. In the case of ST3, Netflix threw the carnival at the Santa Monica Pier on July 29-30th that was 4th of July/mid 80s themed, in homage to the time period of Season 3. As I said, it was a totally free event, and filled up so quickly - the line must have been around 1.5 hours long. It was a huge event, and super popular for the two days it was open. The other form of experiential marketing that Netflix did for ST3 was CRASHERS. Aka the “tour bus” me and my friends were on. The video was released after Season 3, but was essentially used to round up any last stragglers that hadn’t already binged all of S3. And by god, they done did it. According to Variety, within the first four weeks of its release, Stranger Things Season 3 had been watched by 64 million households. It remains the most watched season of the show (to date). And, even a year later, the video continues to get more views and comments and created lifelong memories for all the people involved. That’s something money can’t (or maybe can) buy.
Long story short, if you ever have the chance to go to a premiere for a movie, show, musical, whatever, f*cking do it. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done and probably will ever do. The experience is more worth it than the fact that you get to watch something in advance.